View Chrome Search Results More Efficiently With This Hidden Feature

You click a Google search result. The page is useless. You click back, then click the next result. That page is useless, too. You click back, then click another result. Yet again, useless. 

It's a loop we've all been stuck in. Google, in an ideal world, would filter out more of the useless results, but until that happens there's at least a way to press the back button less often, and that's to use the search sidebar in Chrome. 

The Chrome search sidebar puts your search results in a box to the left of the page you're looking at, allowing you to jump from one result to another without clicking the back button even once. It's a real time saver, but it's not obvious where it is or how to get started.

Here's how to enable Chrome side search and how to use it. 

How to Enable Chrome's Side Search

Side search is, as of this writing, a hidden Google chrome feature. It's currently available for macOS, Windows, Linux, and Chrome OS devices. Here's how to turn it on:

1. Type "chrome:flags" in the Chrome address bar 

2. Press enter, which opens a list of experimental features 

3. Search for "Side search" and enable the feature

4. Relaunch Chrome; look for a button prompting you to do so at the bottom right of the page

If you don't see the feature listed, it's probably because you're using an older version of Chrome. Update Google Chrome and try again.

Good to know: When you relaunch Chrome, any tabs you previously had open will reopen, so don't worry about losing your tabs.

How to Use Side Search in Chrome

To start, search for anything, the way you normally would. Results will show up as usual. 

You might think the feature isn't working, but don't worry, it is. Counterintuitively, you need to click on a result before you can see the sidebar search. So choose any result, and when the new page loads, a G icon appears to the left of the address bar.

Click that 'G' to see the search sidebar open on the left. 

Next, select any result in the side search bar to open in it in the current tab, alongside your search results.

Chrome's side search is an excellent tool for research. Granted, you could open all the results that look useful in new tabs and read them one at a time—that's what I've been doing. But most of us have, at some point, found ourselves drowning in tabs, even if there are perfectly good solutions. The side search feature helps by letting you power through search results without opening dozens of tabs.

Currently, Chrome's side search only works if Google is the default search engine. The plan is to support all of Chrome's default search engines, meaning you might one day be able to use this sidebar to search with Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, Ecosia, or any other alternative search engine. 

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How It's Different From Microsoft Edge's Sidebar Search

Microsoft Edge, the default browser in Window, offers a feature that at first glance seems similar to side search. With it you can right-click any text, then click Search in sidebar.

Do that and you'll see a sidebar on the right-hand side. 

At first glance this might seem similar, but it's not. First, you can only trigger the sidebar by right-clicking text. Second, selecting a result here opens a new tab instead of replacing the currently open site. It's not solving the same problem. And Microsoft's sidebar only works with Bing. Replacing the default Edge search engine does not change which search engine shows up here.

Still, it's nice that both search engines have some kind of sidebar search feature without the need to install any extensions. Monitors are wider than ever before. You might as well put that screen real estate to use.

If you're on the fence about using Chrome in the first place, read up on all the reasons to choose Edge in Windows 11. If you love Chrome but find it's been slowing down, see our tips on how to speed up Google Chrome.